1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a method to control the supply of fuel and/or the payment for same at a service station and the installation used implementing these method.
It applies more particularly, but not exclusively, to the supply of fuel to vehicles belonging to road transport companies and which carry out long period rotations (for example several weeks) outside their base.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In fact, in this case the management of fuel charges becomes difficult to be ensured by the accounting departments which only receive the invoices on the return of lorries, provided the drivers have carefully retained said invoices.
This is why road transport companies conclude agreements with fuel companies so as to ensure that the amounts relating to the quantities delivered are centralised at the fuel company and billed by the latter to the transport company, the driver only having to provide the identification elements (for example by means of an identification card), a simple plastic support sometimes associated with a magnetic track) giving proof to the service station that he is authorised to take fuel to be deducted from the account of the company.
However, despite its advantages, this solution does have a large number of drawbacks, mainly due to it being impossible to carry out sufficient controls to eliminate fraud.
Thus, for example, the holder of an identification card could use his card to fill a private vehicle not belonging to the company.
Similarly, the inspection carried out by an operator present at the service station only occurs at the station exit, that is once the vehicle has been filled up its tank with fuel. Then it is difficult to effectively intervene if the identification code appearing on the card of the driver is on a black list.
So as to eliminate these drawbacks, an attempt has been made to fit the computers associated with the various pump groups with a reading unit connected to a pump controller, normally situated in the shop of the station, this controller then being programmed so as to carry out the required checks before authorising the pump to distribute the fuel.
However, this solution proves to be less effective since it does not automatically input the data relating to the vehicle.
In addition, this solution guarantees that once the authority is obtained, the user fills the tank of the lorry of the concern in question and not any other tank or receptacle.
The object of the invention is thus to eliminate these drawbacks.
To this effect, it concerns providing a control and/or payment method including:
prior to filling the tank by means of a distribution gun associated with a computer, the inputting by a receiving unit associated with said computer with identification data relating to the driver and/or the transport company and the transmission to a terminal associated with the pump controller of this identification data and data specific to the computer, in particular its number and thus its localisation,
checking by the pump controller or terminal that no element preventing delivery of fuel, this check being made by comparing identification data with the data held by the pump controller or terminal, in particular the black list, then the controller orders the computer, initially in the free service mode, to go into the system mode,
as soon as the pump gun is introduced into the tank, the reading by an electronic system situated on the edge of the vehicle with an identification number contained in an identification module associated with the gun then the transmission by this system intended for said receiving unit of messages including the identification number, information concerning the payer and possibly the identification data of authorised drivers and the length in kilometres of the vehicle, said receiving unit transmitting these messages to the controller by means of said terminal and authorising the computer to start distribution,
the halting of distribution when ordered by the computer when the latter is advised by the receiving unit to stop reading said identification module indicating a removal of the gun outside the tank,
the end of the transaction subsequent to the gun being placed back onto the pump which triggers the transfer by the computer for the controller and the terminal of information relating to the volume of fuel delivered and the amount to be paid, that is information which can be retransmitted to the payer by the terminal.
Advantageously, the inputting of identification data relating to the driver and/or the transport company could be made by means of an information support smart card held by the driver and a card reader associated with the issuer/receiver.
Similarly, the identification data support of the gun could include a memory integrated circuit associated with a coil and the reading of this support by the embarked electronic system could be provided by a reader including a coil located at the opening of the tank of the vehicle and close to the coil of the identification data support when the gun is inserted inside the tank.